Mocha Wolves
by Mina In Blue
Summary: Jaenii was an outcast, forced to run with the pack to survive. Rated PG-13 cause I don't know where I'm going with this just yet... the rating may change.
1. Jaenii

_Conscience breaks across the islands of dreams, dragging at the edges, destroying it piece by piece.  
The real world devours, consumes that world from which dreams come, our center._

_Wake at your own risk._

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One yellow green orb opened to the morning light. Rays reflected off of the tears of the morning, scattering rainbows across the rough gray of the stone walls. Jaenii stared at the ceiling, waiting patiently for her mind to wake and catch up with the rest of her. The rough grey stone of the cave roof was stained in a royal gold, gilding the dull walls to shimmer like jewels.

Jaenii sat up, rubbing the back of her head with a paw. _'Paw? No, no; paw isn't right.'_ She looked down at her strange paws, wriggling her long, hairless toes. _'So strange I must look to my brothers.'_

_And your sisters as well. _A husky female voice answered. Twin pairs of startlingly blue eyes watched her from the back of the cave._ But you smell like Sister, even if you don't look like it. Or act like it. _The wolf shook her head, then settled her chin on her front paws. _Will you walk again this morning?_

Jaenii nodded, crawling forward on her hands and knees, moving swiftly out of the cave, careful not to wake her sleeping siblings. She blinked owlishly into the morning light, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her furless body._ I will walk, Head Sister, but not far. Just to the Big Water. Will you walk with me? _Wordless assent tumbled out from the Head Sister's place at the back wall. The wolf walked out into the sunlight, shaking dew from her silvery fur. She was beautiful, almost solid white, with hints of brown and black about her nose and paws. She was the strongest of the Sisters. Perhaps even stronger than Head Brother. But there was something else Head Sister had that no other wolf had.

Head Sister knew of the Ever Cold, in the far North. She was raised in it. Jaenii shivered; it was cold enough here without a coating of fur to keep her warm. What would the Ever Cold have been like?

Picking herself up off of the ground, Jaenii stepped forward, balancing carefully on her hind paws. The calluses on them were thick enough to match the padding that protected the feet of her Pack. She looked back at them, curled around each other in sleep. This was her pack, her family. But she was so different... where had she come from?

_Come, sister, if we are to walk to the Big Water and back before we hunt, we must hurry. _Head Sister sat, her fluffy white tail curled over her paws. She was serene-looking and as unmoving as stones and the great trees. Head Sister was beautiful, the most beautiful sister in her pack. Very unlike Jaenii.

Sighing heavily, Jaenii took a few tentative steps forward; the movement felt good. Smiling, she broke into a run, dodging the trees, and howling a challenge to Head Sister over her shoulder.

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** Welcome to Chapter 1. This is the last time I'll redo it; I just missed a few massive spelling errors I thought I had fixed. Gomen ne...**

**Mina **


	2. The Big Water

Shaking the water from her waist-length hair, Jaenii delighted in the cold morning. The mountain air stained her cold skin a speckled purple. How strange Jaenii must look to Head Sister... The trees swayed, dancing to the tune of the wild wind, a wind that brought in the scents of animals and green growing things. The mountain air was beautiful, and painted a picture of the world around her in the colors of smell.

Head Sister snorted, looking put out at being splashed by her young sister. _You're going to catch ill trouncing in the water like that, you stupid mutt._ Head Sister snarled.

Jaenii stopped playing for minute, and watched Head Sister with curious emerald eyes. _You're angry at me?_ She crawled up onto the bank of the Big Water, hair clinging to her skin. She kept her head low, carefully keeping it lower than Head Sister's, staring forward into her muzzle. Jaenii wouldn't, couldn't challenge her. Head Sister would kill her; she'd have no chance...

But Head Sister wasn't angry. She sighed heavily, looking away from her strange kit. _No, sister. Not angry with you._

_Tell me, tell me. _Jaenii whined, keeping herbody low to the ground as she crawled forward. _Tell me and be at peace._

Turning away, Head Sister studied the trees around them with orbs of ice. _They keened out the Call of Warning. The Children of the Pack smelled the blood of a sister. A sister was dying. A sister was calling for help. I lead the Pack, the brothers and sisters. They keened out the Call of Coming. The entire pack ran to help. We came, but you did not look like pack sister. But our scent does not lie. You were Strange Sister, but we accepted you. You were a good kit, as helpless and wild as any kit of the Pack. But you did not grow stronger. You are full grown, a full sister, but you are still weak. I have protected you. I will continue to protect you, Sister. I will stay with you, no matter how far I have to go to keep that promise. But there is something amiss about you, something uneasy, and it has been growing worse as you've grown. You do not make me angry, but you do make me worry. How weak, how easily you fall ill. _

Jaenii stared at Head Sister for a long time, jewel-eyes wide. There was silence, as wolf and Jaenii stared at one another, no challenge in either pair of eyes. _Thank you, Sister._ She answered, water welling up and blurring her vision. Something raw and painfully beautiful crushed in her chest. _Thank you._ Blindly, Jaenii threw her arms around the Head Sister's shoulders. She could feel a warm tongue lick a long line up her neck. They stayed there for a long moment, Jaenii breathing in the thick, musty smell of her sister's body. Her fur tickled Jaenii's hairless chin. _And I will do whatever I can to protect you, Head Sister..._

Suddenly, Head Sister keened in pain. In a confused moment, Jaenii began keening with her, caught up in rush of pain she felt from her Head Sister. _Humans! Humans, with Weapons. You must run and warn the Pack, Sister._ There was blood, thick on Head Sister's white coat. The salty-copper smell rushed to her, filling Jaenii's nose and mouth. The fire of the Hunt poured through her veins... And she turned, looking for a target for the fire. Someone would burn in it...

"Hey girl, you okay?" The noise didn't make any sense. _'This must be Human. I will kill it, for the Pack.'_ Jaenii growled at it, baring her teeth. She crouched low over the body of Head Sister, vowing to protect, to avenge.

She bit down on the human as he reached to her. _Don't touch my sister!_ she shouted, tears ripping through the grit on her furless muzzle. The human backed away, backed away. She was winning! The Strange Sister perhaps was not so weak. But she did not pursue her prey; she would guard the Head Sister, she had to Call the Pack...

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**And Chapter 2 is done. This will be a shortish story, I think I have an idea of where I'm going with it now. But I dunno how long. Lemme map it out and hopefully I'll be able to tell you in the next Chapter (already in the making). But if I had to give my best guess... It would be seven parts. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! **

**Mina **


	3. Jacob

Jacob checked his rear view mirror, shaking his head in disbelief. _'The Professor is going to hear it for this one. I should have known this assignment was going to be a bitch; she's getting me back for that damned prank last summer. My hand is killin' me!' _He buckled his seat belt, frowning as his newly bandaged hand throbbed. _'I can't believe this shit.'_

The girl was still soundly asleep in his back seat, curled next to the cage holding her wolf. _'Just what was a girl like her doing in the middle of a wolf-infested forest without any clothes anyway? And I wonder what kind of powers she has... that made her so important to the Professor...'_

Starting the engine of his old Bronco, he smiled as it roared to life. Now there was something he understood: the growl of an engine. Cars were uncomplicated, and didn't hate you for being a little different.

Checking his side mirrors, Jacob rolled out into the road. He had to be careful, take the back roads. He had a good idea of the kind of trouble he could get in, having a naked woman and a wild wolf drugged and caged in the back of his truck. _'And that would be the icing on top of this shitty day.'_


	4. Maria the Grey

The school was solid as the rock below it. Steel enforced brick frame, filled to brimming with the latest surveillance known to man, or to mutant. This was the safest campus in the world.

And for good reason.

There were twelve hundred students, sleeping soundly underground, knowing this place had been designed for their protection. Not just against the Outside, not just against the normal humans, but also from themselves.

Maria knew how few of them were under real control. It was amazing they didn't have more accidents than they did. She Watched over them, extending her Mind to each one, searching for cries of help, for stress, for the tell-tale signs of one losing control...

But there were no cries for help, no emergencies. No one stirred.

Maria continued to Watch, continued to Listen, much as her forefathers had Watched these children at this school. _'The whole reason Xavier started this school. To give them a place to go, to be protected.' _The school had always been run by the strongest psychics. Jean Grey had been the second to Xavier, and her children had all succeeded her.

It had been that way for Generations.

Maria was the latest of a long line of those with Grey blood.

But the safety of the children wasn't the first thing on Maria's mind tonight. She Watched, she Listened, but a piece of her mind was caught up in wonder. Wonder at the strong, mutant mind she had sensed, somewhere close. So close, it was amazing she hadn't sensed it before...

'_I do hope Jacob finds her, brings her back safely. Mutant hunters are getting greater and greater in number...'_

A tiny teacup rattled on the table, its insistent, mindless clicking drew Maria's attention. She Searched those newly arrived minds, hoping to find Jacob among their number...

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** There'll be eight chapters total. I'm notpromising anything, but I hope to have this finished by the end of the week. It may be next week though.**

**R&R, I guess. Mina. **


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